Happy Halloween! I don’t know what the kids in the photo are up to, but I bet they’re having fun!
The House impeachment resolution passed, 232 to 196. The “yes” votes were all Democrats. Two Dems voted no — Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. Update: No-longer-a-Republican Justin Amash voted “yes” with the Dems.
California is on fire, and Trump hasn’t said a word. I checked his Twitter feed this morning and also announcements and releases from the White House. Nada. This may be just as well; when he does say something he’ll probably blame the fire on Democrats.
Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, is one of the scariest people in Washington. He is such a toxic piece of work he is persona non grata even among Senate Republicans, which is why he remains acting director. A Senate that would confirm a ham sandwich to a judicial bench as long as it’s a conservative ham sandwich probably would not confirm Cuccinelli, especially not to an even bigger position.
Republican senators are warning President Donald Trump that he cannot legally appoint immigration hard-liner Ken Cuccinelli to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
The White House and DHS lawyers, however, are continuing to work on a controversial end run around a federal law that prohibits Cuccinelli from serving as an acting secretary. It would likely face an immediate court challenge as well as the ire of members of his own party.
“The White House would be well advised to consult with the Senate and senators before they take any decisive action that might be embarrassing to Mr. Cuccinelli or to the White House itself,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who called the attempt to fill the top role at the department without Senate confirmations a “concern.”
Putting aside the question of how big a wackjob Cuccinelli must be to be a concern to John Cornyn — it seems to me this is not the time for Trump to be pissing off the senators who will be sitting as his jurors, probably in a few weeks.
Yesterday Cuccinelli confessed to the House Oversight Committee that he was responsible for attempting to end the program that deferred deportation of immigrants who are being treated for life-threatening illnesses.
The man who spearheaded the Trump administration bid to ramp up deportations of ailing migrants was asked Wednesday to look one despairing father in the eye, and tell him whether to abandon his sick child in the United States, or take her home to die.
But all acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Ken Cuccinelli could do was glance at Nicolas Espinosa of Ecuador, whose U.S.-born daughter Julia, 7, suffers from a rare disorder that has already cost her much of her intestine.
The heartless bastard told the committee he hadn’t bothered to learn anything about individual cases when he sent out letters giving people 33 days to get out of the country. He blamed Congress for not passing a law clarifying why such people should have deportations deferred. Note that Cuccinelli is an anti-abortion absolutist who wants all abortions banned with no exceptions. No doubt he claims to be “saving babies.” But as far as he’s concerned babies already born and in intensive care units can be tossed out with the trash. If Cuccinalli does become acting head of DHS, he may once again attempt to terminate the program, and its beneficiaries.
Finally, we come to how hard White House staffers work to avoid confusing President Trump. Steve Benen writes,
Earlier this week, Donald Trump published a tweet suggesting he’d “never even heard of” Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top expert on Ukraine on the White House National Security Council. At first blush, that didn’t make any sense: how could the president, who’s been deeply engaged on U.S. policy toward Ukraine for months, not know his own top Ukrainian expert?
It turns out that an entirely different person had been briefing Trump on Ukraine, and Trump was under the impression that person was his “top Ukrainian expert.” Lt. Col Vindman had not been allowed to brief the “president” on anything, even though he was the real expert on Ukraine and the other guy is not known to have any expertise on Ukraine at all. The other guy, Kashyap Patel, was a longtime staffer of Rep. Devin Nunes who joined the White House staff in February; in what capacity no one seems to know.
Apparently this guy Patel has been feeding Trump wackjob conspiracy theories rather than actual intelligence on Ukraine. Worse, nobody in the White House had the guts to go in and explain to Trump that Patel doesn’t know Ukraine from ukuleles and that his real Ukraine adviser was Lt. Col. Vindman.
It’s an amazing dynamic, which helps shed new light on just how dysfunctional Trump’s West Wing is. If the National Security Council’s top Ukrainian expert briefed the president, Trump might have become “confused” – not by the information Vindman was sharing, but by the fact that the president was under the impression that an entirely different person was the White House’s top Ukrainian expert.
That other person, Kashyap Patel, is an acolyte of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, and according to Vindman, Patel “misrepresented” himself to Trump in order to help guide the White House’s policy toward Ukraine.
No wonder the president has “never even heard of” Alexander Vindman. If he’d walked into the Oval Office and introduced himself as Trump’s top Ukrainian expert, the president would’ve wondered what happened to the other guy.
This is high-level, inmates-in-charge-of-the-asylum dysfunction. I’ve been in offices like that, where the staff spent a large part of their time managing the boss’s psychological state. It’s exhausting.
And just think — by next Halloween, it will be almost time for the general election. Boo!
Yesterday Cuccinelli confessed to the House Oversight Committee that he was responsible for attempting to end the program that deferred deportation of immigrants who are being treated for life-threatening illnesses.
I did not see his testimony. Was it 'confessing' or boasting?
First, tRUMP had that douche-canoe, "Da Mooch," Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted in his " communications" position for, oh, what… about a week? But in the past year, Da Mooch has turned on the presiDUNCE.
Now we have that douche-aircraft carrier, "Da Cooch," Ken Cuccinelli, who not only advocates separating families and keeping immigrant kids in cages, but also booting-out immigrant kids with serious and potentially terminal illnesses.
Where does t RUMP find these psycho/sociopaths. An asylum for the criminally insane?
Never mind. Stupid question. That asylum for the criminally insane is, of course, the Republican Party!
What psychotic loon will tRUMP pull out from that deceased ferret on his noggin?
Never mind. I don't want to know! I'm a-scared to find out!!!
OT: Rachel had a story that stated that tRUMP has, for the record, changed his domicile from NY to FL.
NY's Governor Cuomo* (whom I despise – at least until just now) had a great comment. He said, "Good riddance! It's not like @realDonaldTrump paid his taxes here anyway… He's all yours, Florida"
* Andrew is proof that sometimes the turd can fall very far from a great source!
Trump doesn't want to file state taxes in N.Y. and have his business revealed. The ag in N.Y. is not as friendly as the bought off ag in florida.
Trump probably just wants to cash in on Florida's $50,000. homestead exemption. Anytime he sees a possibility to beat the system out of money he's going to do it. It's just in his DNA.
Well I'll be. Where did you find that picture? I was the kid in the Donald Duck mask and yeah, we were having a great time. Never got caught either.
It's not just bloggers and commenters who are concerned about Trump's mental health:
https://dangerouscase.org/
It is the entire hijacked foreign policy that bothers me not just a phone call.
Funny how the right does not care about privatised Russian $foreign policy.
They want foreign paid off prosecutorso to go after u.s. citizens. Kinda like trump wanted to turn over security to gru. Remember a year ago he suggested sending ambassador Mcfall (mcfaul?) To be questioned by Russians?
All roads lead to Putin and the Dems need to focus on that not just a telephone call. The right will pretend it is just a call and trivial.
Yea though I walk through the valley of impeachment I shall fear no conviction and removal from office, for Mitch McConnell and the GOP sycophants they comfort me.
Just in case any of you missed it. Here's a accurate assessment of what the stakes are. We are all being called to stand up for our country. Let your voice be heard!
https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/steve-schmidt-trump-s-actions-on-ukraine-a-profound-abuse-of-power-72550469901
That Trump is a strange guy. I kinda wonder how his mind works. It is puzzling to me as to why he would even bring up the subject of Mueller and his poor performance in a call to the President of Ukraine. I mean like there was no point of reference to indicate who exactly Mueller is,and why would Trump just assume that Zelenskyy knew what he was talking about?
Florida Man Trump is doing an OJ Simpson. Pick up stakes and move to a state where they can't touch your residence – as Swami mentioned, "the Homestead exemption".
Glad that Beta O'Rourke quit. He wasn't ready for prime time, and we need people to drop out. Mayor Pete has more or less the same positions and vastly overshadowed O’Rourke.
That Trump is a strange guy. I kinda wonder how his mind works.
He lives in his own reality, and for his entire life has gotten away with it, with wild material success. He simply thinks he can do anything and get away with it. Every bit of his life experience confirms this.
Watch the impeachment hearings. Schiff and the others will present a case of overwhelmingly convincing evidence of Trump’s criminality. It is obviously an open and shut case. Trump will eventually admit it, shrug, and effectively say “so what?”
…as his dopey supporters cheer him on. They both know they have the Senate on their side, and his supporters use that as a way of joining with Trump in shrugging off his overwhelming guilt, reaffirming his (and their) invincibility.
The most positive news: Elizabeth Warren spelled out her healthcare plan, and who will pay for it. Good article here
It’s a bold plan in terms of coverage. It’s so important to get this discussion going in the public mind, to move the Overton Window. If EW doesn’t become the Dems’ candidate, at least she gave us this.